This specification relates to re-timer circuitry for data communications.
Conventionally, to synchronize data transmissions between a transmitter and receiver, a reference clock signal may be transmitted with a data signal. In general, growth in bandwidth in modern data transmission follows a logarithm law, and network and point-to-point connections favor high-speed data transfers without a reference clock signal.
A re-timer typically recovers the reference clock signal at the receiving end of the high-speed data transfer, where a reference oscillator may be used. In general, data transmission includes identifying data patterns, such as a preamble, that provides usage and protocol information. However, the identifying data patterns typically cannot be read until a clock is recovered. Conventionally, to recover the reference clock signal, the data rate of the data signal needs to be specified at the re-timer prior to receiving the data signal. However, a reference-less re-timer is preferable because such a design would allow for dynamic adaptation to multiple data rates and/or multiple data protocols.